You Followed Your Dreams and It SUCKED

As a kid, we are asked what we want to be when we grow up as early as preschool. Those dreams follow us and can even define some of us for most of adolescence. When we get older, we might even go to college to pursue that dream. Our dreams may change and evolve just as we do — like my brother who went from an engineering major to a history major — we grow up with an image in our mind of what our lives are going to be like when we’re older. The problem is, once we get to that dream job we’ve worked years to have, we may realize it’s not what we really want. In fact, it can actually suck!

My dreams led me to leave my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina to pursue a journalism career, an idea I didn’t entirely get on my own. My primary influence was my own mother, who, much like me, grew up in a small town, for her in Southern Illinois, only to move to New York City to follow her career dreams.

My mom was drawn to law — specifically courtroom law, which led her to the University of Notre Dame where she studied political science. After graduating Notre Dame, ironically, on disciplinary probation and with a 2.8 grade point average, she got into Brooklyn Law School in New York with LSAT scores in the 99th percentile.

young and naive, my mom’s hatred of her job reflected in her work and ultimately caused her to get fired. Afterward, she ended up moving to South Carolina, and that’s when the next phase of her life came.

While living in South Carolina, my mom spent the first half of her thirty year career as a litigator trying cases, handling motions and filing lawsuits. For six years, she ran her own business and then in 2008 successfully ran for the House of Representatives, a seat she later lost in 2010.

However, it was that loss that opened up more opportunities.

“In 2013, I was approached by a friend about coming to lobby for an environmental organization in Charleston. And that’s when I closed my practice, and quit being a litigator and couldn’t be happier,” my mom said.

Now, my mom is a state lobbyist in South Carolina where she works primarily in education policy, coastal conservation and advocacy for women’s reproductive rights. When asked about the advice she would give to twenty something, soon to be post-graduates she explained that the future is difficult, but it’s not bleak.

“You know, you may have to compromise a little bit on what your dreams are. But remember that everything is an experience that builds who you’re going to be. So be prepared to work your tail off and try to keep a smile on your face, that will make a difference.”

When looking towards our futures, it is important to remember how much time we really have to figure it all out. Another great story of an uncertain yet ultimately successful career story comes from that of Nancy Niedermeyer, a therapist out of New Jersey.

Niedermeyer grew up in Colorado and attended Colorado State University where she was uncertain about her career path. Feeling pressure to figure out a path, she decided to major in economics.

When she graduated, she got a job with a bank. Niedermeyer explained that, “Every time I was outside, I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t want to go back to the bank. I don’t want to go sit inside’.” That was when she knew she needed a change.

Article And Layout

by ADRIANNE HUTTO

Niedermeyer applied to several different airlines and was then hired by American Airlines as a flight attendant. She hoped this would give her the opportunity to travel more, but ended up with only domestic flights.

Ultimately, Niedermeyer ended up meeting someone in New York — who would later become her husband and father of her children — and she decided to move to be with him. She ended up going from a flight attendant riding from Dayton and Abilene to having layovers in Brussels and Paris.

After doing this for sometime, Niedermeyer got bored and decided to go back to school, and got her master’s degree in counseling, while continuing to be a flight attendant. Once her son entered high school and it became harder to leave for flights, she made a switch.

“I changed careers at like, 54,” Niedermeyer explained. “I’m a therapist, I see about 20 clients a week. I work with trauma work with lots of people who have anxiety and depression, ADHD, lots of stuff and I love it. I’m having a good time, I’m having fun with it.”

Niedermeyer explained that she is grateful for having taken to this career later in life because, as she joked, she likely would not have stuck with it in her twenties.

“It’s perfectly normal to switch careers a number of times during your working life,” Niedermeyer explained. “I think young adults today, they feel so much pressure to get it right. Let’s just be fully present, whatever you’re doing, and enjoy it. Be curious and not afraid to try something different, especially in your twenties, you can’t figure it all out. Nothing is really how you expect it’s going to be, you gotta just try it.”

There is a lot of pressure surrounding getting the right job or internship or having the right things on your resume; but looking at the experiences of the older generations, specifically our parents and grandparents, there is a lot of evidence that you won’t have it figured out — and that’s okay. Give yourself the opportunity to explore a career that you may not be doing in ten years, just because it makes you happy now.